911 247
by Mulderette
Summary: When Callen has to pick up Sam's daughter from school, chaos ensues.


Callen sat at his desk in the bullpen, diligently trying to catch up on his paperwork. He didn't know why he always seemed to procrastinate with this particular part of his job, but it never failed and then he would get way behind and have to spend hours on it. It happened over and over again and he never seemed to learn his lesson. Sam was at a meeting with an old Navy seal buddy of his and Kensi and Deeks were out pursuing a lead. He would have preferred to go with Sam, but Hetty had insisted he work on getting these forms completed.

"And how are you doing, Mr. Callen?" Hetty asked as she approached his desk, giving him an amused look.

"Great, Hetty, just great," he said, making his discouragement apparent.

"Well, don't blame me," Hetty said. "As team leader, it is your job to make sure this all gets done. I'd like to think it was because you were too busy with field work, but I'll have you know that each of your team members has filed all of their forms on time."

Callen tried to think of a reason for this, but nothing believable came to mind. "Don't worry, I'll get it done, Hetty."

Just then, his cell phone buzzed. "Hey, Sam," Callen said, as he clicked on the phone.

"G!" Sam said, sounding anxious. "Are you still at the office?"

"Yeah, I'm here, why? You need something? Don't say paperwork because trust me, I have enough of my own. I'm going to be here all night long at the rate I'm going."

"I need you to go to Kam's school and pick her up. An 18-wheeler overturned on the freeway and I have no idea how long I'm going to be held up. There's no way I'll get to Kam's school on time though."

"What time do I need to be there?" Callen asked, glancing at his watch.

"You should leave now. I'm sorry, G. Michelle is visiting her mom today or she could have gone. I'll help you with your paperwork later, okay?"

"Sam, it's no big deal. I'd better get going though. Same place as usual?" He had gone with Sam enough times to know where to go.

"Yeah, only thing is, I was planning to meet her inside today to look at the art projects. She's bringing hers home today. She's in homeroom 247."

"Okay, that's fine," Callen said, committing the number to memory. "Good luck with the traffic. I'm leaving now."

"Okay, call me after you get her?"

"I will. Talk to you in a while." Hetty had gone back to her office when Sam had called so Callen quickly walked over there. "Hetty? Sam needs me to pick up Kamran for him. Some big mess on the freeway and he won't get to her school on time."

"Alright, run along then. Will you be back?"

Callen nodded. "Don't worry, Hetty, I know I need to get the paperwork done. I'll be back."

"Very good," Hetty said, smiling as she nodded approvingly. "It does my heart good to see you taking your duties so seriously."

Callen was proud that he was able to keep himself from rolling his eyes. "Well, I need to go. I'll see you later, Hetty." Callen quickly made his way out of the building and to his vehicle. Luckily, Kam's school wasn't too far from OSP so he wasn't too worried about being late. He arrived at the school within 10 minutes and pulled his car into a parking spot. He was actually a few minutes early and was unsure if he should enter the school right away or wait for the bell to ring. He decided to wait for the bell.

As Callen sat in his car waiting, his attention was drawn to a man who he felt was acting rather oddly. He was a very large man who with straggly hair, glasses and an unkempt beard. He was slowly pacing outside, sometimes watching the cars and other times staring at the school. Callen couldn't help but wonder if he was a parent or what exactly his deal was. When the bell rang, Callen got out of his car and started walking towards the building, in the same direction as the odd-appearing gentleman was heading. Callen entered the school and signed in at the front office, waiting patiently while they verified that he was one of Kamran's emergency contacts. He then headed to homeroom #247.

xxxxx

"Uncle Callen!" Kamran ran to him and gave him a hug as he entered the classroom. "I didn't expect to see you here today," she said, grinning up at him.

"Your dad got stuck in traffic so he asked if I could pick you up," Callen said, smiling at her.

"Maybe we could stop for ice cream on our way home?" Kamran asked, looking up at him hopefully.

"I think that could possibly be arranged," he said with a smile. "But first things first…your dad mentioned something about an art project?"

"It's a sculpture," she said as she grabbed him by the hand and pulled him towards the other end of the classroom where a variety of sculptures were all arranged on a long table by the wall. "Guess which one is mine!"

"Uh…" his eyes moved over the row of sculptures having absolutely no idea which one could be hers. Some of them looked very good while others he wasn't really sure of, maybe they were just abstract. He certainly was no art critic though. "You want to give me a clue?" he asked.

Kamran shook her head mischievously. "I think you should try to guess without a clue, Uncle Callen."

As Callen tried to figure out which piece of artwork was Kamran's, he was distracted by the sound of loud voices back near the entrance of the room.

"You know you shouldn't be here, Lucas," a tall, thin woman with shoulder length red curly hair said. When Callen saw who she was speaking to, he immediately went on alert. It was the odd guy he had been watching earlier.

"It's the only way I can see my son," Lucas said. "You living in that fucking gated house that I pay half the fucking rent for! And I'm not even able to see my kid!"

"Kamran…you stay over here," Callen said calmly.

"But…" Kamran looked up at Callen anxiously. "Where are you going?"

"Do as I tell you, Kam, okay?" Callen said, giving her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "I'll be right back."

Callen steadfastly walked over to where Lucas and the woman were talking. The woman appeared very anxious while Lucas looked enraged.

"Hey buddy," Callen said as he approached Lucas. "You need to calm down. You're scaring some of the kids in here."

"Who the FUCK are you?!" Lucas immediately turned towards Callen. "YOU might want to stay out of my fucking business unless you want me to break that pretty face of yours."

"I think you need to leave," Callen said. He turned towards the woman Lucas had been speaking to. "Is he authorized to be here?"

"No…" she shook her head. Her eyes were filled with tears and she was obviously a nervous wreck. "He's not allowed to see our son."

"Well, I see him right over there!" Lucas shouted gleefully, pointing to a frightened-looking boy with dark hair and eyes. "Hello there, Robbie! Good old dad has come to get you and free you from your whore of a mother. We're going to take a nice long road trip and we ain't never coming back!"

"You're not taking him!" the woman screamed hysterically.

"Listen, buddy…" Callen stepped towards the man, intent on escorting him from the school .

"I'm not your buddy!" Lucas snarled as he backed away from Callen and suddenly pulled out a gun from the waistband underneath his jacket. At the appearance of the weapon, some of the children in the room screamed and the teacher tried to usher them away from Lucas.

Callen put up his hands, wishing he had taken his gun before leaving the office. He hadn't really thought a weapon was necessary to pick up Sam's daughter from school though.

"I don't think you want to shoot anyone, do you, Lucas?" Callen asked quietly, keeping his tone as calm as possible. "You don't really want any trouble, do you?"

"I don't care!" Lucas said as he began laughing hysterically. "I don't give a flying fuck!" He started aiming his gun randomly at various people in the room and laughed even more as some of the girls started to cry.

"Hey bitch!" he yelled at the teacher who looked very young, probably only in her early 20s and she appeared very scared. "Lock the door to this room. We've got enough people in here enjoying the party. We don't need any more."

The young woman quickly went over to the door and did as Lucas asked. While she did that, Callen quickly did a head count of who was in the room, six students including Kamran and Robbie, Lucas, Robbie's mother, the teacher and himself. Once again, he wished for his gun.

"So, Lucas," Callen began. "What's your plan? I don't think taking us all hostage was what you were planning to do, was it?"

"Shut up."

"Because, no offense, if it is your plan, it's not a very good one."

"What part of shut up do you not understand?!" Lucas yelled.

"I need to get out of here!" one of the girls, appearing totally panic-stricken, started to scream as she ran towards the door. "I want to go home!" I need to leave!"

"Get back here!" Lucas screamed, aiming his gun at the girl. "Stop or I'll shoot!"

Callen had wanted to try to get Lucas to peacefully surrender, but at that point, he had no choice but to tackle Lucas in order to stop him from shooting the girl. He struggled with the larger man for the weapon and almost immediately heard the sound of a gunshot. At first, Callen didn't feel anything and he thought that Lucas had been hit, but right after thinking that, he felt the familiar hot pain of a bullet wound in his shoulder and he knew he was the unlucky one who'd been hit, after all.

"Uncle Callen!" Kamran screamed as she ran across the room toward him.

"Stay away, little girl!" Lucas screamed, aiming his gun at Kamran as Callen lunged at him again.

"You're going to shoot children?!" Callen yelled, trying to jar a modicum of sense into this freak. "You're a father! Are you really going to shoot your son's classmates?!"

Callen's words seemed to have somewhat of an effect on Lucas who backed up against the wall. "I want all of you in one place," he ordered. "Over there by the blackboard, away from the windows."

Everyone did as Lucas commanded and Callen clumsily got up from the floor and took Kamran's hand. "Uncle Callen," she said, sobbing, her eyes focused on the blood coming from his shoulder. "He…he sh…shot you. "

"I'm alright, Kam," Callen said. "Please try to calm down for me, okay?"

She nodded, but she appeared terrified, not that Callen could blame her. "Everything's going to be okay, sweetheart," he whispered.

Callen sat down by the sculptures, and leaned his back against the wall as he tried to determine how badly he was injured. He looked around the room for something he could use as a compress to try to stop the bleeding, but didn't really see anything. He then remembered his cell phone and as inconspicuously as possible pulled it out of his pants pocket and sent a text to his partner which read, "911 247."

xxxxx

The young teacher made her way to Callen's side, her eyes on his shoulder wound. "That doesn't look so good," she commented quietly. "I'm Lydia Turner, the art teacher and Kamran's homeroom teacher."

"Don't worry, I'm a tough guy," Callen said with a grin. "My name's…"

"Uncle Callen, I know. I can see the family resemblance," she teased.

"You know anything about this guy, Lydia?" Callen asked, turning serious. He was watching Lucas who was pacing back and forth, muttering undecipherable words under his breath.

Lydia shook her head. "No…I've never seen him before. Any time Robbie's been picked up inside, his mom has come for him."

Callen winced and took a deep breath as a hot bolt of pain shot through his shoulder.

"You're bleeding pretty badly," Lydia observed.

"Uncle Callen, are you going to die?" Kamran was holding his hand tightly, looking at him with a mixture of terrible fear and sorrow.

"I'm not going to die, Kam," Callen said, smiling at Sam's daughter.

"Do…do you promise?"

Callen nodded. "I promise."

"We have clean drop cloths," Lydia said. "I could try to bandage you up."

Callen looked over at Lucas dubiously. He really didn't want anyone in the room to be the focus of Lucas' attention except for him. "I don't know…I…"

"Hey! No cell phones!" Lucas went over to a scared-looking boy and grabbed the phone out of his hand. "Did you send a text?" he yelled.

"N...no, I didn't, I promise," the boy stammered, appearing terrified.

"You better not have," Lucas said. He turned towards the rest of the group members. "Give me your phones! All of you!" Everyone handed over their phones to him and he threw them into the top drawer of the teacher's desk.

"So what are you going to do now, Lucas?" Callen asked. "It seems to me that your best bet would be to get out of here."

"Well, your best bet isn't my best bet, pretty boy," Lucas sneered.

"Can I go over to the supply closet and get a drop cloth?" Lydia finally got the nerve to speak up.

"What?" Lucas asked, looking at her with annoyance. "Why? Are you going to do some painting?"

"You shot him. I'd like to try to stop the bleeding if you don't mind. Unless maybe you want a murder charge added onto everything else?"

Lucas stared at her for a long moment and then shrugged carelessly. "Go ahead."

Lydia hurriedly walked over to the supply closet and came back a few moments later with a drop cloth. "I'm not sure if I can tear it," she admitted. "I didn't think he was going to let me go off to get scissors."

"No probably not," Callen agreed. He took the cloth from Lydia and managed to tear off some strips. Lydia folded a compress out of the first strip and pressed it onto Callen's shoulder. "I can hold it," he said, pressing it even more tightly against the wound. The pain made him feel slightly nauseous, but if he could get the bleeding to stop, it would be worth it. He found himself watching Lucas again until he began to feel a little bit woozy and almost dropped off. He forced himself awake and focused on Lucas once again, forcing his eyes to open just a little bit wider.

"I'm going to tie a bandage around that now," Lydia said to Callen. "You won't have to keep holding it." She managed to wrap the drop cloth strips around his shoulder, keeping the compress in place.

"Thank you, Lydia," Callen said, giving her a grateful smile.

"Does it hurt real bad?" Kamran whispered as she cuddled against Callen.

"No, Kam, it's okay." Callen wrapped his arm around the girl and kissed the top of her head. "Stop worrying, honey. I'm alright."

"I wish daddy was here," Kamran said with a sigh. "He would be able to save us from that man."

"You don't think I can save us?" Callen asked, looking amused in spite of the situation.

Kamran shook her head. "He shot you," she said softly. "Plus, he's a lot bigger than you are. Daddy is big like he is and has big muscles."

"Yeah…" At that moment, Callen couldn't help but wish Sam was there as well. If Sam had picked up Kamran himself, he probably would have been able to get the situation in hand and it never would have escalated the way it had. Now, he was beginning to wonder if Sam had even gotten his text. He should have sent it to the office as well, but he'd just assumed Sam would contact them. It might have been a very costly error though.

xxxxx

"Are more parents going to be arriving?" Callen whispered to Lydia, trying to determine if help would be forthcoming.

Lydia shook her head. "These kids are just here to work on their projects. They take the late bus home."

Callen sighed. That wasn't good. He was watching Lucas closely and the man appeared to be getting more and more manic, the way he was pacing around. Callen had the feeling this was all going to blow up in their faces if he didn't do something about it. "We need a diversion," he said to Lydia. "I'm going to try to end this before things escalate any further."

Lydia shook her head. "You're hurt. He's much larger than you and he's armed. You're going to just get yourself shot again and this time he might kill you."

"Haven't you ever heard the bigger they are, the harder they fall?" Callen asked with a grin, trying hard to lighten the situation even a little bit.

Kamran was listening to Callen and her teacher and she put a death grip on Callen's hand. "Don't do anything, Uncle Callen," she whispered, her eyes filled with tears and her lower lip trembling. "Daddy will come. I know he will. I don't want that man to hurt you anymore."

"Kam…I need to do something, okay?" Callen said softly, trying to reassure her. "I don't want anyone else to get hurt." Or worse. Lucas wasn't just going to stay in this room indefinitely. He appeared very unstable. Callen didn't want to take any chances. He'd already screwed up once by not getting Lucas' gun away from him.

"Quit your yapping over there or I'll shut your mouths permanently, starting with you, Mr. Big Shot." Lucas came over and pointed his gun at Callen's head. "You get my meaning, pretty boy?"

"Yeah…I get it…"

Callen waited for Lucas to walk away again and then quickly reached for a small, but solid sculpture from the table. He had no idea what it was supposed to be, but it would serve his purpose nicely as a weapon. He then grabbed another sculpture which was larger and appeared to be very delicate. This one he handed off to Lydia. "I need you to throw this down, right over there. Try to smash it," he directed.

"Uncle Callen, please," Kamran begged.

"Sweetheart, no matter what happens, I love you, okay?" Callen said to her. "Never forget that, Kam."

Kamran nodded, on the verge of sobbing. "I…I love you too," she whispered.

"On the count of three," Callen said to Lydia as he began to edge away from the group. "One…two…three!"

xxxxx

Lydia threw the sculpture to the floor where it smashed loudly into countless pieces.

"What the fuck!" Lucas bellowed, distracted by the crash. At that moment, Callen sprung towards Lucas and hit him as hard as he could on the head with the sculpture he was holding. Lucas dropped heavily to the floor, semi-conscious. Callen applied a chokehold and moments later, Lucas was finally unconscious. The occupants of the room broke into applause as Callen looked at Lydia. "We need some more strips of that drop cloth to tie him up."

Lydia nodded and quickly grabbed the drop cloth which she handed to Callen. He ripped off some more of it and tied Lucas' hands tightly behind his back. "Can you call 911?" Callen asked weakly. His adrenaline had hit rock bottom now and he was getting dizzy.

"Uncle Callen," Kamran came up to him and hugged him tightly as she kissed his cheek. "Uncle Callen, you saved everybody. You're a hero."

He was struggling hard to remain conscious, not wanting to scare Kamran, but he was losing the battle and he knew he was on the verge of passing out. "Kamran, sweetie? Listen, I'm okay, but I just need to rest for a bit, okay? There's nothing to worry about." He then lost his grip on consciousness as Kamran threw herself on top of him and began to sob hysterically.

xxxxx

"Kamran!" Sam rushed into the room just ahead of the police and paramedics.

"Daddy!" Kamran went to him and sobbed into his chest. "He…he…he shot him, he shot him!"

Sam's eyes went to his partner and he knelt down beside him, trying not to interfere with the paramedics, but unable to leave his friend's side. He silently watched as they worked on Callen but then finally had to speak. "How is he?" Sam asked anxiously.

"He's lost a lot of blood. We're going to transfer him to Cedars-Sinai," one of the paramedics said.

"Can I ride with him?" Sam asked, pleadingly.

"It would be better if you followed along," the paramedic said with a pointed look at Kamran.

Sam nodded. "Okay, I understand. Come on, sweetie," he said, putting his arm around Kamran. We'll follow Uncle Callen to the hospital."

"No, daddy, no," Kamran said. "We can't leave Uncle Callen alone. What if…what if?" she asked, sobbing.

"Nothing's going to happen to him, honey," Sam said reassuringly.

"You don't know. You didn't see him get shot…all the blood…"

"I'm sorry you had to see that, baby girl."

"He…he was really brave, daddy," Kamran sniffled, managing to calm down somewhat. "He saved everybody."

Sam wanted to find out exactly what had happened, but at the moment, getting to the hospital and finding out about G's condition was his main priority. "Come on. Let's get down to the car."

xxxxx

On the way to the hospital, Sam called Hetty.

"Mr. Hanna, what's happened?"

"G's been shot, Hetty," Sam said. "It's a shoulder wound. I'm not really sure how serious it is. I'm on my wait to Cedars-Sinai now."

"Oh dear…is Kamran with you?" Hetty asked.

"Yeah, I'm going to call Michelle, see if she can pick her up so I can stay at the hospital."

"The gunman was at the school?"

"Yes, but I don't know the details."

"I'm going to meet you at the hospital," Hetty said. "I'm leaving now. I'll see you shortly."

xxxxx

Sam, usually so calm and in control, was a bundle of nerves as he waited for word on his partner's condition. Michelle had come to take Kamran home which had resulted in yet another hysterical display by their daughter.

"You can't keep beating yourself up over this, Sam," Deeks said. "It wasn't your fault."

"G was picking up my daughter, Deeks," Sam said quietly, "and to make matters worse, he texted me…he texted me that he was in trouble and I didn't even see that text until it was too late. He was waiting for me to come and I didn't."

"Even so, he managed to handle the situation," Deeks said.

"Yeah, but he still got shot…He never should have been at that school today."

"Mr. Hanna, I believe that Mr. Callen is going to come through this just fine," Hetty said as she and Kensi returned to the waiting area. "You need to believe that as well."

Kensi handed Sam and Deeks each a cup of coffee then sat down next to Deeks. "It's a scary world when you have the dangerous jobs that we have, but something bad like this happens at a middle school," Kensi said softly.

"It's lucky Callen was there," Deeks said musingly. "Who knows what could have happened if he hadn't been."

"Kamran said G saved everybody," Sam said.

"And that in itself poses a problem," Hetty said. "The press is all over this. We're going to have to portray Mr. Callen as a reluctant hero who doesn't wish to be identified. We can't have him getting his picture posted all over the place."

"Yeah, well G would be a reluctant hero no matter what the situation was," Sam said. "He's not one to want to take credit."

"No…no he's not," said Hetty as she took a sip of tea and settled back in her chair to continue the wait.

xxxxx

Finally, a doctor stepped into the area where Callen's friends were waiting for word. "Family of G. Callen?" the doctor asked.

"That's us," Sam said, looking at the doctor through anxious eyes. "How is he?"

"He came through the surgery just fine," the doctor said. "There doesn't appear to be any lasting damage from the bullet. He's awoken from the anesthesia and is in recovery. We'll be transferring him to a room soon."

Sam breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good news, Doc," he said with a smile as he shook the doctor's hand. "Thank you. Thank you very much."

"You folks have a good evening," the doctor said as he headed off, leaving four very happy people behind.

A short while later, a nurse came out to inform the group of Callen's room number. "We'll just stop by for a few minutes and then we'll go," Kensi said to Sam as they headed towards Callen's room. "We don't want to tire him out."

"At least he's not in the ICU," Deeks said.

They stopped outside Callen's room and Sam walked in first, followed by the others. Sam approached Callen's bed and ran his hand over his face as he stood watching his sleeping partner. "This never should have happened to you, G…I'm really sorry."

Callen groaned softly and moved his head as he slowly opened his eyes to see his team standing by his bedside.

"Hey Callen," Kensi said. "Nice to see those baby blues open. How are you?"

"I…I'm good," his eyes went immediately to his partner's. "Sam? Sam, how's Kamran? Is she okay?"

"Yeah, G…she's fine, thanks to you," Sam said softly.

"You had us worried, Callen," Deeks said, "but we should have known better. You did a great job saving those people. I'm glad you're going to be okay."

"Is there any length you won't go to in order to get out of doing paperwork, Mr. Callen?" Hetty asked with a smile as she gently patted his hand.

"He doesn't have to worry about any of that paperwork, Hetty," Sam said with a smile. "I've got it covered."

After a bit more small talk, Callen's visitors could see that he was struggling to stay awake so they said their goodbyes. Callen drifted off to sleep before they had even left the room.

Sam had already informed his wife he would be staying with Callen through the night. Even though he was going to be fine, Sam just couldn't in good conscience leave him alone. He stretched out in the reclining chair next to his partner's bed and kept watch over him as he slept.

xxxxx

At midnight, a nurse came in to check Callen's vitals and he was more alert than he had been earlier. "Sam? Why are you here?" Callen asked.

"I…" Sam shook his head. "I don't know, G…I just felt like I wanted to stay with you."

"You should be home with Kamran," Callen said softly. "She had a pretty bad scare today, Sam."

Sam nodded. "I know she did, G…but it could have been a lot worse than a scare…I…I don't know how to thank you for what you did. You saved her and all the other people in that room."

Callen shook his head, looking miserable. "I almost screwed it up, Sam," he admitted. "I let him get the advantage over me…I can't believe he shot me…It could have ended really badly."

"Do not do that, G," Sam said sharply. "Don't. You shouldn't have even been in that situation. You did great. Give yourself some credit, man. Please. You saved my daughter's life, G…that's huge. Please just accept what you did and let me be grateful to you, please?" Sam's eyes were brimming with tears as he stared at his partner, the man who was the closest thing he would ever have to a brother.

Callen looked back at Sam, the other man's emotions rubbing off on him. He nodded as he bowed his head and swiped his hand over his own eyes as Sam's hand rested on his head in an open gesture of affection. "Thank you, G…Thank you for saving my baby girl…"

xxxxx

In spite of all his best efforts, Callen wasn't allowed to leave the hospital the following day. His doctor insisted on him staying at least a full 24 hours after surgery and then, since it was late, said he might as well stay until the next morning. Callen was antsy as could be by the time he was discharged.

"I thought they were never going to let me out of here," he said as Sam pushed his wheelchair through the hospital corridors.

"Best thing for you was to get some rest, G," Sam said cheerfully. He pushed his partner out to the front of the hospital and then went to get the Challenger.

"You know, I really could have walked to the car, Sam," Callen said as he sat in the passenger seat and Sam fastened his seatbelt for him as his left arm was in a sling.

"It's not going to kill you to get pampered a little bit, G. In any case, you'd better get used to it."

"I can do stuff, Sam. I'm right-handed, remember? Anyhow, I can use my arm, it's just a bit weak."

"You're going to follow doctor's orders to the letter," Sam said as he started up the car. "I'm going to make sure of it."

Callen rolled his eyes as Sam grinned at him and they headed off to the Hanna home.

xxxxx

After taking pain killers which were pretty strong, Callen was asleep on the living room sofa when Kamran got home from school. She quietly entered the living room and sat cross-legged on the floor, silently watching him.

"What is she doing?" Sam asked Michelle, as he helped her load the dishwasher.

"I guess she's keeping vigil over him, Sam," Michelle said. "It's really no different than you staying with him at the hospital the other night."

"I guess…I hope she's okay. Do you think she's okay?" he asked Michelle.

"I think so," Michelle said with a nod, "Callen getting better will help her heal too, I think. We can always have her talk to someone if we think it's necessary though."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Sam said.

xxxxx

Almost an hour after Kamran got home from school, Callen moaned softly and began to stir. He opened his eyes and saw Kamran on the floor, by his side, staring up at him. "Hey, Kam…" he said softly. "How are you?"

"I'm good, Uncle Callen," Kamran said solemnly. "How are you?"

"I'm doing better."

"We had an assembly at school today," Kamran said. "Our principal, Mrs. Forrester, said we were very lucky that a hero was there to help us."

Callen felt the heat go to his cheeks. "I'm not a hero, Kam...I was just lucky enough to be able to help out."

"That's not true," Kamran said shaking her head. "You are a hero, Uncle Callen. I saw what you did. All the kids did. We talked about it and everyone says you're a hero, so you are."

He sighed to himself, really too tired to quarrel about it.

Kamran then reached down beside her and picked up the sculpture Callen had used that day to hit Lucas. "How did you know, Uncle Callen?" she asked, turning it around in her hands.

"I…" he stared down at the sculpture and his eyes widened slightly as he realized what she meant. "I just realized how special that particular sculpture was…and I knew it had to be yours…somehow I just knew…"

She smiled and nodded as she handed it to him. "I want you to have it. It helped protect us and maybe it will help to protect you too."

"Are you sure you don't want to keep it?" he asked, reluctant to take what she had obviously worked so hard on.

"I'm very sure, Uncle Callen," she said as she hugged him and kissed his cheek gently. "I love you and I want you to have it."

"I love you too," Callen said. "And thank you very much. This is very special and I'll keep it forever."

Kamran smiled as she got up on the couch and cuddled next to him, feeling safe and protected. Eventually she fell asleep as Callen watched over her with a fond expression on his face. A short time later, Callen drifted off to sleep as well.


End file.
